7-Month Update

So many opportunities, so little time.

I have been meaning to write a new blog post for some time now, but life has been busy. A lot has been happening here in South Korea! I am still loving it here just as much as ever, and since I was able to visit my family in January, I haven't really gotten homesick yet.

I have been here for 7 months now. The time has gone by rather quickly. A few weeks ago, I told my bosses that I would like to remain teaching at my academy for an additional year. I am excited that in September, I will be able to travel back to Wisconsin for Stacia's wedding! I will be in Wisconsin for two weeks, so mark it on your calendars, y'aall! :)

I want to tell you about some of the exciting things God has been doing in my life here in South Korea. First, I have been able to connect with an awesome English-speaking community at a Korean church in a city called Gwangju which is about an hour bus ride from where I live in Naju. I attend services there every Sunday and am on a rotational worship team, so I play my violin with them about once per month. I really enjoy playing with a small group of musicians and using my talent to worship God. One thing I like about my church community is that there are tons of opportunities to serve. I have also been able to help organize fellowship activities. Our church is having a worship night and barbecue this Saturday which I was asked to coordinate. I have been working on that for about two months now, and I am excited to see the outcome. Hopefully we will have a great turnout and it will be an awesome night of music to God's ears. Additionally, my co-teachers have all agreed to attend the event!

I meet once a week with a 50- year-old Korean man named Woosik. I think that God led him to me. One day, I was at the gym just doing my normal exercise routine, when the gym owner brought Woosik over to me and introduced us. Woosik told me that he was interested in practicing his English with someone and would pay me for private tutoring. Unfortunately, my Visa restricts me from private tutoring outside of my academy and so I had to decline. Instead, I told him that I was interested in learning more about Korean culture and so we could still meet once a week and just chat without him paying me. So every Wednesday, he buys me coffee and we talk about everything from politics to culture issues, to philosophy of life and worldview, to literature and family. Just last week we discussed the topic of kindness. Through these conversations, I have learned that Woosik is an atheist. He believes in neither Confusionism nor Christianity and leans toward evolutionist thought. However, since Woosik is a philosophical thinker, he is very interested in others opinions and I am often able to share my views on God and religion with him. In fact, every week, God comes up in one facet or another. I also learned about Woosik that he is a writer like myself! Only, he is much more accomplished than me. He has a blog that he writes on weekly with a good sized following. He has also published one book and will be releasing his second soon. He even translated one of his poems into English and I then asked me to edit it for him! I was more than excited to do so. I am praying for Woosik. I am hoping that God will speak to him through my testimony during our weekly cafe chats. Woosik has a really good heart with a desire to change his Korean community for the better. It would be awesome if that heart also included with it the love of God.

There are so many other things that I want to share, but I know that if this blog post gets much longer, no one will want to read it! Haha! So, until next time then.